On Media

Romney to reset media strategy, again

Following a gaffe-ridden trip abroad, culminating in a press aide's heated confrontation with the press, the Mitt Romney campaign is planning changes. Via The Hill:

Fewer than 100 days out from the election, the campaign is expected to provide more press briefings and heightened access to the candidate in the coming days, and to make changes to the travel pool that will make it more media friendly.

The changes would represent a major shift for the Romney campaign, which so far has offered only extremely limited access to the presumptive Republican nominee, and usually only to favored outlets like Fox News.

A senior Romney aide said the campaign would work to find a balance between respecting the role of the press and telling the story it wants the public to hear about Romney.

[A]s Romney seeks to nail down the GOP nomination and cement the narrative that the delegate math makes it nearly impossible for his remaining rivals to surpass him, his campaign has launched what passes for a media charm offensive.

Senior staff is suddenly more accessible. The Commercial Street headquarters in Boston is no longer off-limits. This week featured a happy hour with the traveling press at a downtown Boston pub and Romney himself broke with campaign precedent by visiting the back of the campaign’s charter airplane for a rare chat with reporters Tuesday before a flight from Ohio to Massachusetts.

After months of near-toxic relations between the famously controlling and tightly-scripted campaign and its traveling press corps, it represents a détente of sorts.